


The White Queen's Knight

by merlins_sister



Category: Stargate: Atlantis
Genre: F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-04
Updated: 2012-03-04
Packaged: 2017-11-01 02:57:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/351181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merlins_sister/pseuds/merlins_sister
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elizabeth reflects on her relationship with Steven.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The White Queen's Knight

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Tanaquisga as part of the sg_rare pairings ficathon 2008

‘Knight to Queen’s Bishop 4.’

Elizabeth felt a smile tug at her lips as she considered the move her opponent had sent.

Interesting.

Very interesting.

She inputted the move in to the computerised game in front of her and settled down to consider her response. The move was typical of the man who had sent it. Seemingly obvious and easy to predict, she knew the move would have a sting in the tail that would show a hidden quickness of thought and strategy.

It was also, on the surface, an aggressive move, threatening several other pieces in one move. But she knew that wouldn’t be the ultimate aim, and there was a greater subtlety to it than at first sight.

Just like the man again.

She smiled. It was increasingly hard now to consider only the moves and not the man who sent them. And not in the way she had when she first met him.

Colonel Steven Caldwell.

Rival and general pain in the butt, he had not been her favourite person for quite a while. Especially when, at the start, even small signs of understanding or meeting her half way seemed to have... well a sting in the tail. Emotional connection as a strategy. It had been the start of conflicting signals, initially hurtful and unsettling as she had struggled to read what was true and what was strategy.

And then they had experienced the same thing. They had both been occupied by another and forced to do things to harm the city and those they cared about. Finally they had been able to meet in the middle ground. And with that experience behind them, Steven had seemed to mellow, to be more understanding of Elizabeth’s approach to problems. And she to his, though she would have to admit to initially wondering how much had been him and how much had been the Goa’uld’s fault. Arguments since then had reassured her that it hadn’t been all the Goa’uld’s influence. And it was strange to think it had been reassuring. But she had come to realise she valued his point of view. He made her think carefully about hers, and even though she remained convinced that she could achieve more through words than with weapons, his insight was valuable. 

So, rather than avoiding him on his visits to the city, she sought him out, offering coffees of peace as an attempt to start their relationship off on a different foot. At first these coffees has been stilted, discussions not straying far from the safety of work. But slowly they started to stray into the personal. They talked of their families, the hobbies they had enjoyed in the brief spare time, before discovering that they were both workaholics, and found they were both intent on doing their best for their people.

Slowly, because of these discussions, these meetings came to be more than coffee between two colleagues. At first they were coffees between commanders and fellow leaders. Not that she would ever want to dismiss John’s role or the support he gave her. But ultimately the buck stopped with her, and Steven understood that more than she could ever have realised. Alone on the Daedalus he was responsible for the crew in that unpredictable world of travelling through space. He had to make quick decisions – attack or retreat, where should he draw the line, how high a cost he would allow. 

With that came a sense of friendship, of having someone she could rely on to understand, and support her, even when they didn’t necessarily agree with her. He brought luxuries from home for her, and she made sure his stays were what he needed them to be. Laughter came more and more into their conversations, and a comfort in each other’s company blossomed.

With that sense of bond building, she had become aware of flashes of something else, a sexual energy that she had not been able to believe was sparking. At first she had dismissed the feelings, the loneliness of command combining with an excess of hormones caused by her abstinence for far too long. That could be the only reason she was yearning for something that wasn’t... couldn’t be there.

But after a while it got more obvious and harder to deny to herself. She had felt uncomfortable at first with this realisation, though she found it hard to acknowledge the reasons why. Why was she disconcerted by her feelings? She had got to know someone, found them to be more that she thought they were, and within that attractive. But they were still something she had known from the start, and his conservative point of view grated with her. How could she find someone attractive when she still disagreed with him so strongly on issues?

Had she changed that much?

Part of her had wanted to stop the coffees at that point, but she chided herself for being cowardly. Then she thought about turning them into work meetings, a safety net of statistics and reports to hide behind if their eyes caught each other, and if she found her breath catching at the rush of feelings. But she knew that would inform Steven more than if she had said something. So she did nothing, and hoped the feelings would go away, or at least that they would retreat to a manageable level. 

Of course, neither option happened and she found herself anticipating his arrival more and more until, finally, at one late night coffee she had given in, leant forward and kissed him.

She would savour the look on his face forever. She had never seen him look so surprised. She had laughed out loud, part nerves, part genuine amusement that she could take him by surprise so easily.

“I never thought,“ he had managed.

“Neither did I,” she had replied in complete honesty.

He had kissed her then, lips soft, but with firmness that was him through and through. They had pulled closer, hands hesitant to explore too deeply, perhaps as they almost anticipated the sounding alarm of a crisis that pulled them apart again that night.

Since then they had not been able to take time to be together. Perhaps that was for the best. It gave them both time to decide if this was truly what they wanted. This time, though, the Daedalus was staying for a week. More than enough time to explore the idea of being together.

“So, have you decided on your next move?”

Elizabeth’s head came up at the sound of the voice of the man she had been thinking of, leaning back in her chair as she eyed him carefully, one last chance to be certain of her decision.

“You set me quite a quandary,” she replied, smiling as he came further into her office. She noted that he was already, unusually, in casual clothes.

“Do you need longer to think about it?” he asked, settling into the chair opposite her. 

She looked at him, felt her insides tighten, and knew that she no longer wanted to fight it.

She turned to the game in front of her, and typed in a move, aware as she did that he was moving to stand behind her. She settled back to allow him a good look at the board.

“Checkmate,” he said after a few moments, and the smile was in his tone. He turned and looked at her. “Outmanoeuvring me again, Dr Weir?”

She laughed. “I have no doubt, Colonel, that you’ll always be able to keep up with me.” She paused. “Wherever we go.”

She closed the distance between them. “And whatever we do.”


End file.
